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Featured Other Series

  • ARCA Menards Series Preview- Gateway

    ARCA Menards Series Preview- Gateway

    After a dominating performance to take the win last week at Madison, breakout superstar Chandler Smith and his team set their sights on the next ARCA Menards Series race at the newly renamed World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

    It’s a bigger entry list this time around, as there are 22 racers entered hoping to drive into victory lane. Chandler Smith will be making his first ever stock car start at this track. The 16-year-old will also have extra track time as he will be competing in his second Truck Series start as well. At the end of Saturday’s Truck race, Smith will be in a stock car or racecar a mere 14 hours.

    “I think it’s going to be all mental. You are going to have to want to have the drive to do it. If you are like ‘oh my gosh, I have to do that?’, if you have that attitude, you are going to suck at it,” he said. “I’ve never been to the track before. I know you need to be patient and hit your marks there. There is definitely going to be a big learning curve. I have never raced on a track like that before. I have practiced there a little on the simulator. I have a good bit of laps under me and I have a general idea so when we get there I will know what to do.”

    Another driver who will be making his first ARCA start at Gateway will be his Venturini Motorsports teammate, Michael Self. Even though Self has no starts or experience at the track, he is excited to get on track Saturday.

    “Gateway has definitely been a track that I’ve been looking forward to racing at,” Self says. “I love the bigger tracks, and this one is kind of unique in that it’s an intermediate track by length classification, but a short track in the sense that it’s completely flat and not particularly fast. I’m anxious to make my first laps out there and see if I can figure it out.”

    In 2019, Self has three wins, seven top fives and top-10 finishes along with three poles. He looks to carry that momentum through the second half of the season.

    “When I think about the first half of this season, there were definitely some negative moments that stand out, but more positive moments. There really hasn’t been a race where we’ve just struggled for speed throughout the weekend. We’ve either shown up and been fast off the gate like at Michigan, or Shannon and the guys have worked hard to figure things out and get us where we need to be, which happened at Madison. I have all the confidence in the world in those guys and look forward to every weekend with them, knowing we’re still learning about each other, but also that there’s a lot of trust and good chemistry established.”

    At 19-years-old, Gavin Harlien will be making his first ever ARCA start this weekend competing in the No. 55. It will be the first of three races for Harlien and the Venturini Motorsports team.

    “Making my first ARCA start is obviously really an exciting opportunity for me and one I’ve been looking forward to since our deal came together,” said Harlien. “But I’m probably most excited about sharing this moment with my sister, Presley, and running the Autism Awareness paint scheme on my Toyota Camry.”

    Harlien does not have much stock car seat time, but he did get in a car last week at Motor Mile to get some testing done.

    “With limited stock car experience, it was great to get behind the wheel last week and spend a day testing with the team. I was able to work with Frank Kimmel and get comfortable behind the wheel working on pit stops and restarts, two things we don’t do in the trucks. I feel good about coming into this weekend but I also know my first time out is all about gaining experience. Venturini Motorsports has a great team and I’ll have a few of the best teammates on my side at Gateway to learn from.”

    Harlien will be making his other two starts at Iowa and Salem Speedway, and competing in the Stadium Super Trucks Series in the meantime.

    After a disappointing finish last weekend at Madison, Chad Bryant Racing driver, Corey Heim will look forward to getting on track this weekend at Gateway and putting last weekend behind him.

    “I’m still pretty frustrated about last weekend at Madison, to be honest,” said Heim. “These Chad Bryant Racing guys pour their guts out to put competitive cars on the track and for us to be taken out by someone is tasteless. But by the time the garage opens at Gateway this weekend, I need to put Madison behind me and focus on making my Gateway debut as positive as possible.” 

    Like Harlien, Heim tested last week as well

    but at Gateway.

    “I think our test went great last week, added Heim. “We unloaded with a great car and got better with each and every run. I think we’ve got a great price for this weekend’s race. Gateway is a very unique track as it is, I’ve never raced on something like it. Both corners are completely different, and you have to downshift in turns one and two, which I’ve never done before. I think a good goal for us this weekend will be a top-five.”

    Heim has five starts to his ARCA Series career in 2019 with a best finish of fifth twice occurring at Pensacola and Salem.

    A driver who does have experience at Gateway, however, and is possibly being overshadowed, is Bret Holmes and in the family owned No. 23 machine. Holmes has one start, which came in last year’s race where he finished 10th.

    “I think we will be a lot better than we were last year,” Holmes said. “It is a very different place. It took me a while to get a hold of it. I watched a lot of videos from there. They put down some traction compound so that’s something we’ll have to get used to. We haven’t decided whether or not we will be shifting. It’s a very unique track, and I like tracks like that. It’s a cool size. It’s hard to pass at Gateway but it’s a cool place to go and make some laps at.”

    Despite earning a top-10 finish, he says that it will not be comparable to the race this year.

    We can’t compare this year to last year,” he said. “A lot of it has been some changes in mentality. Last year it just felt like nothing was going right for me. When you’re not doing well in racing it seems to carry over to outside of racing and things just didn’t seem to be going right. With Shane (Huffman) on board, it has really changed so many things. I don’t like to think about last year a lot. I don’t even like to watch the races from last year. It’s just a part of it. You go through people and make changes and then you get to where you want to be and you get to start over again.”

    Chrisitan Eckes for Venturini Motorsports also has one ARCA start to his name and he earned a fourth-place finish after starting second in last year’s race. Eckes also led 36 laps in that race. Like his teammate Smith, Eckes will also be doing double duty by competing in the Truck Series race as well.

    “I’m pretty excited about running the double this weekend at Gateway,” said Eckes. “I couldn’t pick two better teams in Venturini Motorsports and Kyle Busch Motorsports to go do it with, Gateway is one of my favorite race tracks and a place where I feel we should have won at last year for sure. I’m ready to go give it my all and hopefully end up in victory lane twice by the end of the night.”

    Another driver who is looking to turn his season around and make a late race charge back to the front is Joe Graf Jr. Graf Jr. finished eighth in last year’s race in the No. 77 Chad Bryant Racing Ford.

    “Madison wasn’t what we hoped, even though we came out of there with a top-10 finish,” said Graf Jr. who occupies fifth in the championship standings with 10 races remaining. “As a team, we’ve got to do a better job with execution and start running more consistently inside the top-five. Gateway would be a good place to kick off the second half with that.”

    Looking to beat all those guys with experience mentioned above is KBR-Development driver, 16-year-old Carson Hocevar.

    “I am really excited to get to Gateway, as it will be a whole new challenge for me with aero and intermediate style of racing. It will be difficult with the limited amount of track time and lack of experience on a track like this. I’m very confident in our KBR guys though, as well as my ability to adapt quickly and perform well with our Chevrolet.”

    Hocevar has eight starts in his young ARCA career with four top fives and six top-10 finishes, along with two poles.

    ARCA Menards Series drivers will have two practice sessions to gain experience this weekend.

    The first practice session is slated to last 50 minutes from 11:35 a.m.-12:25 p.m. CT and the final practice will last roughly 55 minutes and will take place from 1:30 p.m.-2:25 p..m. CT. ARCA General Tire pole qualifying is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.CT. Practices and qualifying can all be seen live on Arcaracing.com.

    The Day to Day Coffee 150 for the ARCA Menards Series is set to get underway shortly after 6:45 p.m. CT, 7:45 p.m. ET, live on MAVTV.

  • Graham Rahal Believes Last Restart Should Be Checked

    Graham Rahal Believes Last Restart Should Be Checked

    While one team was happy in the end at the DXC Technology 600, one driver Graham Rahal, thinks Indycar should have checked the last restart with 12 laps to go.

    Simon Pagenaud was also a victim of the last restart that resulted in brake checking.

    “Yeah, he did, no doubt,” Rahal said. “The brake checking from the leader (Josef Newgarden) was obscene. We were well past the start zone and yet the brake checking persisted. We would go and then bam, everyone was on the brakes. There’s no doubt I did touch him. Luckily, it was nose straight to the right rear, which didn’t cut his tire or anything, I don’t think. There’s nothing you could do, I mean that needs to be addressed in my opinion by the stewards. We had issues with this before, but it was clear. Acceleration, brake, acceleration, brake. It was ridiculous! It’s dangerous on these things.”

    “If I’m not mistaken, it was the only time he (Josef Newgarden) was leading too. (Ryan) Hunter-Reay’s restart was great. Good consistent flow, you know good speed. You know, it was nice and clean. The last one I thought was ridiculous.”

    While Rahal thought the last restart was not to his liking, race winner Newgarden didn’t think the restart was not wrong.

    “It’s the leaders discretion on when he can go whenever he wants,” Newgarden said. “I thought I was in a fine enough position to start where I did. I mean, I don’t know what to tell him (Graham Rahal), I went when I needed to go. It’s your discretion, that’s the rule. I haven’t seen it (restart). I don’t know what happen to those guys in the back, but I went when I wanted to go. I mean, I went when I was (Turn) 4, which you’re supposed to go out of the last corner.”

    Newgarden took the lead on lap 203 and led the last 46 laps, and even held on to the lead with a late race restart that came with 12 to go.

    Graham Rahal finished third, rounding out the top podium finishers, while Simon Pagenaud finished sixth.

  • Newgarden Wins In Indycar Thriller At Texas

    Newgarden Wins In Indycar Thriller At Texas

    Josef Newgarden held off multiple challenges from Alexander Rossi in the final laps of the race and took the victory in the IndyCar Series DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway. Newgarden crossed the finish line 0.8164-of-a-second ahead of Rossi and captured his 13th IndyCar Series win and the third this season.

    The conclusion of race number nine marks the halfway point of the season and the fast mile-and-a-half oval did not disappoint.

    Rahal-Letterman Lanigan Racing driver, Takuma Sato, sat on the pole during Saturday’s afternoon qualification session with a time of 47.074. However, it was Newgarden who started seventh was the victor for the third time this season after holding off a hard charging Alexander Rossi at the end.

    “Ah these guys (Pit Crew man, I’m just trying to get it done,” Newgarden said in his post race interview with NBCSN. “How about this Fitzgerald car? It looked good and great to have the Fitzgerald’s here tonight. I knew we had a rocket ship, it was just a matter of getting to the front. We were better in the front, then we were in the back. I knew if we could get in that position, we’d be okay. Team Chevy did a great job for us, just a good day to capitalize on some points. These guys put me in position, so hats off to them.”

    After Sato started on the pole, he dominated in the early going stretching the lead out over Scott Dixon and putting a beating on the field. However, everything went on south on the first round of pit stops, as he slid through his pit, hit the pit wall and wound up hitting one of his pit crew members. Sato would receive a stop and go penalty by Indycar officials, which eventually put him two laps down and taking him out of contention for the win. His crew member would have issues with his right wrist, but was later checked in and released from the care center.

    With that in mind, Ryan Hunter-Reay secured the lead on lap 72 after the initial round of pit stops.

    During the long green flag run, the No. 23 of Charlie Kimball had a right wheel bearing failure on lap 94 that took him out of the race.

    In the meantime, on track battles began to heat up between Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi who had a thrilling battle. Hunter-Reay was continuing to stretch his fuel mileage and pitted on lap 113 to began the second round of pit stops.

    The race eventually became a fuel mileage race, as Hunter-Reay would have stop two more times and would be needing a few lucky breaks in order to contend for the win at the end. Dixon came out second after the round of stops and was on a three stopper strategy.

    By going almost halfway in to the race, the first caution occurred on lap 134 for Honda driver Zach Veach, who had a thrilling spin on the backstretch. Veach was trying all he could to save the car by spinning out, getting back going, but wound up hitting the Turn 3 wall. Due to that incident, Veach suffered a broken toe length that also took him out of the shot at winning.

    Under caution, Newgarden, Will Power and Sato all pitted to change the fuel mileage race.

    A.J. Foyt Racing driver, Matheus Leist was out of the race early on as he suffered handling problems. Both Foyt Racing drivers, Tony Kanaan would also have a disappointing night by finishing 16th continuing the teams frustration on the 2019 season.

    Before the caution, 2019 Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud hit a pit equipment during the round of pit stops. He received a warning and will be addressed a fine later in the week for his actions.

    Rookie Felix Rosenqvist also was penalized for pit lane speed violation.

    This set up a lap 143 restart, which became under review by Indycar officials. No action was taken afterwards.

    After the restart, Hunter-Reay was needing to save more fuel as he could not make it to the end without help of caution flag laps.

    Despite no action being taken after the restart, it was determined that Tony Kanaan was penalized for jumping the restart and had to serve a drive thru penalty.

    On lap 155, Herta and James Hinchcliffe was also under investigation for an on track incident, but officials took no action.

    Things started to become interesting as the race went on, as last weeks winner at Detroit, Scott Dixon passed race leader Hunter-Reay on lap 164. It appeared Hunter-Reay would be saving fuel at the time, as Alexander Rossi went on by him and would take the lead from Dixon on lap 175.

    Hunter-Reay had to make a pit stop on lap 179, five laps short of his next scheduled pit stop window. While that happened, Dixon and Rossi traded the lead with each other multiple times before pit stops began.

    Dixon was able to pass Rossi for the lead once more, as Rossi began to save fuel on this green flag run. On lap 186, Rossi passed Dixon back and pitted on the same lap. Pagenaud also ended up pitting as well.

    The time eventually came for race leader Dixon to pit on lap 190 and ended up giving the lead to Newgarden, which cycled out as the new race leader for the first time of the night.

    After the pit stops, there was only three cars on the lead lap but the top three including Newgarden would have to pit again.

    Power pitted on lap 197 along with Newgarden and Sebastien Bourdais pitted on lap 202. Newgarden would once again be the leader.

    Despite having one caution, Hunter-Reay continued to suffer as he still didn’t have enough fuel to make it to the end unless another caution came out late.

    His wish was granted on lap 219, as Hinchcliffe would end up crashing on the backstretch to bring out the caution. This saw Hunter-Reay pit while race leader Newgarden stayed out.

    A late race restart was seen with 22 to go and the intensity began to pick up. Just three laps later, Colton Herta and Scott Dixon was involved in a crash in Turns 3 and 4. Herta and Dixon would wind not up finishing the race.

    Indycar officials did a great job getting the track cleaned up in time and set up a 12 lap dash to the finish.

    It was all Newgarden and Rossi who would battle it for the race win at Texas. Rossi was only able to get the side of Newgarden in Turns 1 and 2, but had to back out of the throttle and settle behind him, before making another run at Newgarden. In the end, the Hendersonville, Tennessee native held off Rossi in a thrilling finish to earn his third win of the 2019 NTT Indycar season.

    “Yeah, he (Alexander Rossi) was fast,” Newgarden added in his post race interview with NBCSN. “I mean, honestly, you know he ran a great race. Both him and (Scott) Dixon ran a great race there at the end. It was hard to get away at the restart, that was my biggest concern was just getting the jump back going again. He (Alexander Rossi) was good man, he was hard to hold off. He was so good in dirty air. I saw how he good he was earlier in the race behind people. I knew it was going to be tough. You saw the speed I had on the fronstretch to hold him off. Thanks to Team Chevy, so yeah, it was a good day in Texas! I’m glad to finally figure this place out, it’s been a while!

    After having a strong car for most of the night, Alexander Rossi came home in second place when the thrilling battle with Newgarden was over with.

    “The second lane never came in,” Rossi said in his post race interview with NBCSN. “It’s disappointing, because he was really nowhere and then they called a great race, and he had a fast car. So ultimately, once he had track position, there wasn’t much I could do. I could get halfway around, get to the outside of one, then the front would take off and couldn’t complete the pass. He drove as he should, covered the inside, it was not much I could do. Nonetheless, I think it was a really good day, it was close there with (Scott) Dixon and Colton (Herta). It was good to be able to get through that.”

    Graham Rahal had a quiet race, qualified in the ninth position and wounded out the podium finishers.

    “Yeah, it was good!,” Rahal excitedly said in his post race interview with NBCSN. “The car was good enough that you could pass. I made a couple of moves in the outside of (Turn) 1. Second lane was starting to come in there in (Turns) 1 and 2. I think overtime, this track is going to get better. When they first repaved it, did the line wash, it definitely hurt the grip. I just think with more races, Cup guys, us, that second lane is going to come in. Our Fleet Cost & Care guys did a great job tonight. The first stop was awesome! We’ve come along ways. We did an amazing job on the fuel mileage and we could go forever. In the end, I am happy. We get a weekend off, guys worked hard and get rewarded just a little bit, it feels pretty good.”

    Even though his fuel mileage strategy didn’t quite workout, Ryan Hunter-Reay finished in the fifth position wounding out the top five finishers.

    “I thought tonight was the night that we were going to pull in this No. 28 DHL car in to victory lane,” Hunter-Reay said in his post race interview with NBCSN. “Get the cowboy hat and shoot off some guns, but it wasn’t meant to be unfortunately. Just leading that much maybe could have put us in a position to pit a lap or two early and it became a fuel mileage race with the way the yellows fell. So, nothing really went our way again tonight, but we definitely showed we were here and that we were capable of winning. It was unfortunate we couldn’t turn this in to a W because I think it was a night to take advantage of. The car was awesome, but then it got to a point, where I was looking at the fuel map, letting guys go and it was a disaster after that. Big thanks to the guys and we’ll move on to Road America, and hopefully get a win there.”

    There were three caution flags for 22 laps and 13 leaders among eight lead changes.

    The average speed was 186.084 mph.

    With the win, it was Newgarden’s third of the season, his first on a big oval. He led twice for 54 laps to secure the win.

    Official Results

    1. Josef Newgarden
    2. Alexander Rossi
    3. Graham Rahal
    4. Santino Ferucci (R)
    5. Simon Pagenaud
    6. Ryan Hunter-Reay
    7. Marcus Ericsson (R)
    8. Sebastien Bourdias
    9. Will Power, One lap down
    10. Marco Andretti, One lap down
    11. Conor Daly, One lap down
    12. Felix Rosenqvist, Two laps down
    13. Ed Carpenter, Two laps down
    14. Spencer Pigot, Two laps down
    15. Takuma Sato, Three laps down
    16. Tony Kanaan, Three laps down
    17. Scott Dixon, 20 laps down, OUT- Contact
    18. Colton Herta, 20 laps down, OUT-Contact
    19. James Hinchcliffe, 30 laps down, OUT- Contact
    20. Zach Veach, 76 laps down, OUT- Handling
    21. Charlie Kimball, 162 laps down, OUT- Mechanical
    22. Matheus Lesit, 175 laps down, OUT- Handling

    Up Next: The NTT Indycar Series takes a brief hiatus and will return to on-track action for the tenth race of the season at Road America Sunday June 23 on NBC.

  • ARCA Menards Racing Series Preview- Michigan

    ARCA Menards Racing Series Preview- Michigan

    The 2019 ARCA Menards Series season heads to Michigan International Speedway this week for race number nine, almost reaching the halfway point of the season.

    And what a season we have seen so far in the ARCA Menards Series. When the season opened up at Daytona, we saw upcoming superstar Harrison Burton take the checkered flag with the powerhouse team of Venturini Motorsports. The Venturini’s continued their dominance by winning back-to-back with Michael Self at Five Flags in Pensacola and Salem.

    From there, it looked liked Self and the No. 25 Venturini team would run away with the championship. However, troubles were ahead after having early season success. They still had a decent run at Talladega finishing fifth, but frustrations started to grow at Nashville, Toledo and Charlotte.

    At Nashville, the No. 25 of Self was caught up in an accident which took him out of contention and he wound up 15th in that race. Toledo had a better showing for the team, as they finished fourth after starting on the pole and leading 12 laps. Although, Self and company still felt like it was a race they had given away. His teammate, Chandler Smith would go on to win the Toledo race. Then Charlotte came and it looked like the 25 team was back on track to dig themselves out of a hole.

    Self started on the pole once more and led a whopping 91 laps of the scheduled 100. But issues arose late in the going when oil and smoke came out of the back of the car. It would eventually go away on restarts, but then on lap 87 of 100, Self spun out when leading the race. The team never could rebound which led to a frustrating fifth place finish in a race they should have won.

    Last week at Pocono, Self finished 11th but is starting to grow tired of not winning, even though they feel like they have a car capable of winning every race.

    And now ARCA heads to Michigan International Speedway, not too far from the racing capital of the world. Manufacturers like Chevrolet and Ford, among others, are located there and it gives drivers like Self extra motivation to go out and win.

    For Self and the No. 25 Venturini team, they only have one start together which came in last year’s race. The Park City, Utah native has one top-five finish in his only outing finishing third after starting third and leading 23 laps. Despite finishing third there last year, Self and the No. 25 team are hoping to finish the race this weekend after having some frustrating finishes of as late.

    “After the last few weeks, I think I’m just really hoping for a completely smooth day at Michigan from the first lap of practice to the checkered flag at the end of the race.” Self said. “We’ve been off-kilter a bit, between mistakes by me and mechanical issues, I just want to focus on getting that cleared up. Once we do, we’ll be rock solid. The Venturini Motorsports guys bring the fastest cars to the racetrack every weekend, but we’ve beat ourselves the last two races on track where I feel like we should’ve excelled. I really like Michigan and think it’s a ton of fun to race there, and hope this is the place we can piece everything back together and have a shot at another win.”

    Despite Self’s issues, another driver is starting to heat up their on-track performance and that’s Chad Bryant Racing driver Ty Majeski. He won his second consecutive race last week at Pocono after a late race charge to the lead passing Riley Herbst for the win.

    At Michigan, Majeski has just one start that came two years ago finishing sixth. Majeski drove the Cunningham Motorsports car that is now owned by Chad Bryant.

    Even with only one start at the track, Majeski and the No. 22 team are looking to continue their winning ways this week at Michigan after having much success as of late in a part-time schedule.

    “It’s been a great few weeks,” said Majeski. “I can’t thank Chad (Bryant), Paul (Andrews) and the rest of the No. 22 Crestliner guys for their hard work and belief in me. We worked hard at Charlotte and Pocono to come away with the win and we’re going to take the same approach that we did the last two races and apply it to Michigan and hope for the same result.”  

    With only one ARCA start at Michigan, the No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing driver hopes to build upon that sixth place finish two years ago.

    “Michigan International Speedway is a beast, but it’s a blast of a place to race,” added Majeski. “It’s a very wide race track with a lot of room to race with incredibly fast speeds. I’m hoping I can apply some of what I learned a couple of years ago to our No. 22 Crestliner Ford Fusion during practice and qualifying on Friday.”

    While Majeski and Self both have one start to their track record, the No. 15 Venturini Motorsports driver Christian Eckes will be making his first ARCA start or stock car start of any kind this weekend at Michigan.

    With no experience, Eckes is excited to get to the 2-mile racetrack that is Michigan International Speedway.

    “I’ve done a lot to prepare for Michigan this week,” said Eckes. “I’m excited to make my first laps on track. I’ve spent time on the sim at TRD and just basic stuff like film and notes. I feel extremely prepared to go have another great run this weekend.”

    Another possible future superstar will have added track time experience this weekend. Joe Graf Jr. will be running the ARCA race and also making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut for Richard Childress Racing at Michigan.

    Graf Jr. has one start at Michigan that came last year, where he finished fifth after starting deep in the field. Even though he has only had one start at Michigan, he is ready for the additional track time and believes it will be his best finish yet.

    “I’m very excited about Michigan this weekend,” said Graf Jr. “It’s been an incredibly busy week with preparation, testing and then getting to Michigan. I’m incredibly focused and look forward to the chance to have my strongest results of the year.”

    Myatt Snider, a former NASCAR Truck Series regular and now a part-time driver for ThorSport Racing makes his return to the ARCA Menards Series this weekend. He had one win, three top fives and six top-10 finishes in just 10 races in his short ARCA career before making the move to trucks.

    After completing a limited schedule, Snider made the jump to the Truck Series to drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports in his rookie season and then to the dominant ThorSport Racing team in 2018. Snider’s best finish in the Truck Series was second at Talladega last fall.

    At Michigan, he has one start in the Truck Series finishing 18th after starting eighth. In the ARCA Series, Snider started on the pole in his only race three years ago but finished a disappointing 23rd after crashing on Lap 38.

    This time around, the 24-year old returns in a Venturini Motorsports No. 20 prepared Toyota.

    “Glad we could put this deal (together) late in the game so I could make a return to the 2-mile superspeedway,” said Snider. “Michigan is one of the toughest tracks on the ARCA circuit. But that’s what makes it so fun. Really excited for the weekend.”

    The ARCA Menards Series will see an 18 car field in Friday’s race at Michigan International Speedway. Other drivers include Dick Doheny, Morgen Baird, Tanner Gray, C.J. McLaughlin, Tommy Vigh Jr, Riley Herbst, Bret Holmes, Travis Braden, Brandon McReynolds, Thad Moffitt, Brad Smith, Scott Melton and Tim Richmond, who will all look to tame the 2-mile superspeedway located outside Brooklyn, Michigan.

    Since 1980, Michigan International Speedway has seen 38 ARCA races and the winners are a list of whos-who.

    The list of winners include Joe Rutmann, Tracy Leslie, Dave Mader III, Stanley Smith, Bob Keselowski, Jeff Purvis (who won three in a row), Ron Barfield Jr, Tim Steele, Mark Thompson, Frank Kimmel, David Keith, Kerry Earnhardt, Blaise Alexander, Chad Blount, Casey Mears, Reed Sorenson, Steve Wallace, David Stremme, Brent Sherman, Erik Darnell, Justin Lofton, Parker Kligerman, Mikey Kile, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher, Brennan Poole, Austin Theriault, Ross Kenseth, Brandon Jones and Sheldon Creed.

    The ARCA Menards Series will see another different winner this weekend.

    Qualifying is very important at Michigan where the winner has come from the pole position six times, occurring in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 and the last in 2017. The lowest a race winner has come from to win was 28th in 1997 set by Tim Steele. Since then, the lowest a driver has ever started to win was ninth (twice, which occurred in 2001 by Kerry Earnhardt and 2012 by now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star Chris Buescher).

    The race winner has also come from the second starting spot, 10 times which occurred in 1994, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018.

    The ARCA Menards Series teams will get on track early Friday morning with the only practice session taking place at 8:30 a.m. ET lasting until 10 a.m. ET, live on ArcaRacing.com.

    Qualifying takes at noon ET and will also be live on Arcaracing.com.

    The VizCom 200 green flag is scheduled to fly at 6:15 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1. There will be 100 laps to make up the 200 miles.

  • Ty Majeski goes back to back after winning at Pocono

    Ty Majeski goes back to back after winning at Pocono

    Majeski and the No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing team earned his second win of the 2019 ARCA Menards Series after passing Riley Herbst with 14 to go, beating Herbst on the final round of pit stops.

    “Ah man, this is a dream come true,” Majeski excitedly told Fox Sports 1 in his post-race interview. “Like I said last week, from losing my ride last year to Chad Bryant (Team Owner) taking a chance on me, man this is so special! Coming into the season, the goal was to win one race, one pole, but I’ll take wins any day over a pole. So this is really cool. Huge thank you to Crestliner for coming on board. That was so special. Paul Andrews (Crew Chief) made great calls all day long. Man, this Chad Bryant team works so hard, day in and day out. This Crestliner Ford was fast all day. It was just a matter of beating the 18 (Riley Herbst) off pit road in those green flag stops. I feel like whoever came out with track position was going to win the race.”

    The #AnywhereIsPossible 200 green flag flew shortly after 5:30 p.m. ET and it looked like Herbst was going to completely dominate the whole race.

    There were only a couple of incidents that did not bring out the caution. Pole sitter Harrison Burton had a right front tire go down while Steve Glasson had a flat left front tire go down one lap later.

    On lap 29, the first and only caution came out for Bobby Gerhart who stalled in the tunnel turn but was able to refire his car after the caution flag flew. After the caution, nothing really changed, other than the fact that Burton was back up to fifth after having a flat tire a couple of laps earlier.

    On lap 43, points leader, Michael Self had issues that began when he had a right rear tire go flat and eventually fuel pressure problems on Lap 76, which would eventually take him out of contention for the win. Flat tires continued to cause problems as Burton would suffer another one on Lap 50.

    The final round of pit stops began with 20 to go and Hailie Deegan was the first to pit. Christian Eckes who was running third, came to pit but overshot his pit with 17 to go.

    With 13 to go, eventual race winner, Majeski, would pit, taking only two right side tires. One lap later, race leader Riley Herbst made his final pit stop.

    After making his pit stop, Majeski was already crossing the start/finish line while Herbst was entering Turns 1 and 2. There’s an ARCA rule where you have to stay below the yellow line after pitting. Herbst tried all he could to be the leader after pit stops, but Majeski went by him on the backstretch.

    Herbst would need a caution in order to have another shot at Majeski but that would not happen as Majeski and the No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing team would go on to win their second straight race.

    “The dirty air is real tough,” Majeski said in his post-race interview when describing catching Riley Herbst. “I could get within a couple of car lengths of him before I would just die. The inside is so preferred here. It’s tough to get clean air on the nose and get the front end to turn. I did all I could there. Fortunately, I made that pass on pit road and didn’t make it on the race track. I was thinking about my green flag pit stop and my marks, and it paid off.”

    After leading 68 of the scheduled 80 laps, the No. 18 Monster Energy Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Riley Herbst would have to finish a disappointing second after being so dominant earlier on.

    “I think right there at the end, we took two tires, just really tightened us up too much and couldn’t get back to the 22 (Ty Majeski),” Herbst said. “It just sucks. Man, when you have a dominating car like that to come home second, I just drove hard there and couldn’t do anything about it.”

    It was Majeski’s second consecutive ARCA win in his first ARCA outing at Pocono. Majeski started fifth and took the lead with 13 laps to go from Herbst.

    There would be just one caution and only four cars finished on the lead lap.

    Final Results

    1. Ty Majeski
    2. Riley Herbst
    3. Christian Eckes
    4. Raphael Lessard
    5. Bret Holmes, One Lap Down
    6. Harrison Burton, Two Laps Down
    7. Hailie Deegan, Two Laps Down
    8. Joe Graf Jr., Two Laps Down
    9. Cole Glasson, Three Laps Down
    10. Travis Braden, Three Laps Down
    11. Michael Self, Four Laps Down
    12. Ed Pompa, Seven Laps Down
    13. Scott Melton, Eight Laps Down
    14. Tim Richmond, 12 laps down
    15. Brad Smith, 33 laps down
    16. Bobby Gerhart, 61 laps down
    17. Tommy Vigh Jr, 71 laps down
    18. Dick Doheny, 77 laps down

    Up Next: The ARCA Menards Series continues their summer stretch to Michigan International Speedway on Friday, June 7, live on Fox Sports 1.

  • Harrison Burton paces only ARCA practice, wins pole at Pocono

    Harrison Burton paces only ARCA practice, wins pole at Pocono

    When the ARCA Menards Series teams got to Pocono Raceway this morning, they would have to wait for nearly half the morning to get on track. Showers and thunderstorms were in the area and made for a wet race track.

    Weepers were also a problem during track drying and with limited time, ARCA officials decided to forego qualifying and used the shortened practice session to set the field for today’s race.

    Harrison Burton was the fastest in the 30-minute practice session and will start on the pole for the  General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200. This continued Venturini Motorsports’ hot streak of earning a front row starting spot. This will be his first pole in the ARCA Menards Series in over 14 races for the 18-year-old.

    Last week’s winner, Ty Majeski, was fifth fastest in the practice session thus earning him a fifth place starting spot.

    2. Riley Herbst
    3. Michael Self
    4. Hailie Deegan
    5. Ty Majeski
    6. Joe Graf Jr
    7. Raphael Lessard
    8. Cole Glasson
    9. Christian Eckes
    10. Bret Holmes
    11. Travis Braden
    12. Ed Pompa
    13. Bobby Gerhart
    14. Tim Richmond
    15. Scott Melton
    16. Tommy Vigh Jr
    17. Brad Smith
    18. Dick Doheny

    While showers and thunderstorms plagued the area earlier this morning, there will be no weather woes for Friday night’s #AnywhereIsPossible 200.

    The race can be seen on Fox Sports 2 a little after 5:30 p.m. ET and 80 laps will make up the 200-mile race.

  • ARCA Menards Series Preview-Pocono 1

    ARCA Menards Series Preview-Pocono 1

    The ARCA Menards Series continues their summer stretch by visiting Pocono Raceway located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania this Friday night after a short turnaround racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Thursday night.

    Chad Bryant Racing driver Ty Majeski visited victory lane at Charlotte for the first time of his ARCA Series career and is once again entered in this week’s ARCA race at Pocono.

    There are only 19 cars are entered in this week’s General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200.

    Riley Herbst and Harrison Burton are the only repeat winners that are entered for Friday’s race. Herbst won in 2017, while Burton is the race winner of last year’s spring race at Pocono.

    Raphael Lessard will be making his second ARCA start this year, his previous coming at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida where Lessard finished eighth after starting sixth driving for Mike Bursley. He will once again drive for Bursley, but this time he will be piloting the No. 28 KBR-Development Chevrolet.

    It will be a stacked field of NASCAR’s future stars like Thad Moffitt, Christian Eckes, Riley Herbst, Harrison Burton, Joe Graf Jr, Raphael Lessard and Hailie Deegan.

    Here are five drivers you should keep an eye on in this weeks #AnywhereIsPossible 200 at Pocono Raceway.

    1. Harrison Burton – Burton is the previous race winner. He will also make his first Truck Series track debut at Pocono but will be preparing for that by driving in the ARCA race Friday night. This year, Burton has three ARCA starts winning at the season opener in Daytona. Since then, his best finish came last week at Charlotte by finishing fourth. In last year’s race at Pocono, he led 24 of the scheduled 80 laps to win. After pulling a different double duty last week, racing on Thursday night and graduating high school the next day, Burton can now focus on racing this summer.

      “This track is amazing,” said the recent high school graduate. “Pocono is a technical race track with every corner being completely different than the last so that’s a lot of fun for the drivers. It creates a lot of good racing opportunities, good passing zones, there’s drafting on the straightaways and I’m excited to be back to defend.”

    2. Christian Eckes – Eckes will be visiting his home track this weekend, as he grew up not too far from Pocono being born in New York. He has just two starts at Pocono, both coming last year. The Tricky Triangle was tricky last year for Eckes and his No. 15 Venturini Motorsports team. Both finishes came outside the top-10 with a finish of 11th in his first outing and 13th in his second outing. He has had an up and down season so far, and bad luck has bitten him as of late. In last week’s race, Eckes had to deal with two flat tires and spent two laps down throughout the race before rebounding to finish seventh. However, the ARCA Series had an open test on Wednesday before being canceled early due to thunderstorms. Eckes topped the speed charts, completing 36 laps with a best time of 53.17 seconds. Whether this speed will transfer to the race is yet to be seen, but it is encouraging for the New Yorker who is ready to turn his season around this Friday.

      “Pocono has always been a place I’ve enjoyed going to,” said Eckes. “Being almost a ‘Home Race’ for me it’s pretty cool to have my whole family out to watch. The race track itself has been super fun. We haven’t gotten the results we deserved in our two attempts but we’re here to change that this week. Everybody on the JBL team has been working really hard, we’re ready to take the triangle head on.”

    3. Riley Herbst – Aside from Burton, Herbst is the other winner entered for this weeks race at Pocono. He won the 2017 race after leading well over half the race (45 laps). To date, it’s Herbst’s only ARCA win of his career. Aside from not competing in one race that year, he has two full seasons under his belt in the ARCA Series. In last year’s spring race, Herbst finished fifth after leading 11 laps to continue his success at Pocono. Herbst is only doing a part-time schedule this year, sharing the ride with Ty Gibbs. He only competed in three races this season with a best finish of second at Talladega. Herbst and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team was sixth fastest in the afternoon test session.

    4. Ty Majeski – It’s hard to not to count out last week’s winner Majeski who is looking to carry momentum from his race win at Charlotte. He has just one start in an ARCA car coming in 2017 driving for the Cunningham Motorsports team finishing seventh. For those who don’t know, Chad Bryant Racing took over the reins from Briggs Cunningham last year. If Wednesday’s test means anything, Majeski was fourth fastest. Chad Bryant brought two other cars to the test with Corey Heim who was third fastest and Joe Graft Jr. who was 10th fastest.

    5. Travis Braden – Braden only has two starts at Pocono in the ARCA Menards Series with a best finish of fourth in the spring race last year. In his other start later in the summer, he finished ninth, giving Braden one top five and one top-10 finish.

      “As a driver, you need to hit all three corners just right,” Braden said. “if you miss one corner it messes up all three of them. Everyone looks at the long straightaways and you think you want to reduce drag, but the corners are where the speed is at.”


      Who To Watch:

      Hailie Deegan will be making her second ARCA start this season, piloting the No. 55 iK9 Toyota for Bill Venturini.

      Cole Glasson returns to the ARCA Menards Series driving the No. 32 Win Tron Racing Chevrolet. Glasson has one ARCA start coming in last year’s season finale at Kansas, finishing 10th.

      Raphael Lessard makes his track debut at Pocono this Friday. Lessard was fifth quickest Wednesday in ARCA’s afternoon test.

      Michael Self will look to rebound after finishing a disappointing fifth when he led a dominating 91 laps.

      Wayne Peterson Racing will bring a new Toyota after their Chevy was destroyed last week in a crash.

      Venturini Motorsports looks to continue their qualifying streak by qualifying on the pole this Friday.

      The ARCA teams had a morning and afternoon open test session before the afternoon session was shortened by thunderstorms. Christian Eckes was the fastest in the afternoon session.

      2. Chandler Smith
      3. Corey Heim
      4. Ty Majeski
      5. Raphael Lessard
      6. Riley Herbst
      7. Michael Self
      8. Harrison Burton
      9. Cole Glasson
      10. Joe Graf Jr
      11. Hailie Deegan
      12. Bret Holmes
      13. Scott Melton
      14. Ed Pompa
      15. Bobby Gerhart
      16. Jonas Fors
      17. Tim Richmond

      The ARCA Menards Series has visited Pocono Raceway before it was known as The Tricky Triangle since 1987. Since then, the track has hosted 63 races with multiple race winners. The winners include Bob Schacht, Lee Raymond, Bob Keselowski, Jimmy Horton, Ben Hess, Tim Steele, Jeff Purvis, Mike Wallace, Frank Kimmel, Blaise Alexander, Kerry Earnhardt, Ryan Newman, Damon Lusk, Casey Atwood, Casey Mears, Scott Riggs, Ryan Hemphill, Chase Miller, Chad McCumbee, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Justin Allgaier, Joey Logano, Justin Lofton, Craig Goess, Robb Brent, Tim George Jr, Ty Dillon, Brennan Poole, Chad Hackenbracht, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Justin Allison, Trevor Bayne, Cole Custer, Grant Enfinger, Chase Briscoe, Justin Haley and Zane Smith to name a few.

      After an open test session on Wednesday, the ARCA teams will have a one day show Friday with one practice session on Friday morning at 9 a.m. ET lasting an hour. Qualifying is slated for 12 p.m. ET and will be live on Arcaracing.com.

      The #AnywhereIsPossible 200 is scheduled to get underway shortly after 5:30 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 2 and is scheduled for 80 laps. There will be a same-day replay on Fox Sports 1 later that night.





  • Pagenaud out-duels Rossi to win 103rd Indy 500

    Pagenaud out-duels Rossi to win 103rd Indy 500

    INDIANAPOLIS — All the talk about Simon Pagenaud entering the Month of May was his slow start to the season and that he’d be out of his ride at Team Penske if things didn’t turn around. After sweeping the Month of May, he’s now the points leader.

    On the final restart of the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 with 13 laps to go, Pagenaud pounced on race leader Alexander Rossi to take the lead heading into Turn 1. Rossi replied in kind the following lap, and Pagenaud took it and held it for the next seven laps. Coming to three to go, Rossi drafted and passed him on the front stretch to retake the lead. On the backstretch with two to go, Pagenaud followed suit, took it from Rossi for good, snaked his way down the backstretch on the final lap to break Rossi’s draft and score his fourth career victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    “It’s been such an intense race. I believe we led the most laps of the race. The car was just on rails. The yellows came out perfectly. The stars are aligned. Man, wow, I’m seeing myself on TV with this. It’s pretty amazing. It’s a dream come true, a lifetime of trying to achieve this. So I’m just speechless. It’s just incredible.”

    It’s his 12th career NTT IndyCar Series victory in 127 career starts. He led a race high of 116 laps.

    2016 race winner Rossi finished runner-up and earned his 14th career podium in 56 career starts.

    In the end, the difference was “horsepower.”

    “That’s unfortunately the way it is,” he said. “(Pagenaud) did a great job. Obviously, he was on pole and led the most laps, but I think we had the superior car. We just didn’t have enough there at the end.”

    2017 race winner Takuma Sato, who was at one point a lap down, rounded out the podium (10th of his career).

    “My race, one stage it looked really tough,” Sato said. “We got some little issues after the first pit stop, so we had to come back, and then I think it got a lap down in 31st place.

    “But I think we had to do head down the job and recalculate. Our team did a great job to stretch the field and then get back to the pack. I think it took more than 100 laps. But I think it was brilliant, and after the restart, it was very exciting. Pato, P6, P5, P4 and finally got P3, and then I got everything I had. Obviously I have on board Alex, but we were just flying all over the place with the temperature, and it was a great battle. It is a little bit of a pity that we couldn’t challenge for the win, but we got third under some very difficult circumstances, I think.”

    Josef Newgarden and defending race winner Will Power rounded out the top five.

    Ed Carpenter, Santino Ferrucci, 2014 race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2013 race winner Tony Kanaan and Conor Daly rounded out the top 10.

    Race summary

    Simon Pagenaud led the field to green shortly before 1 p.m. Pagenaud led the first 32 laps before making his first stop of the day on Lap 33. Four different drivers took over the race lead before it cycled back to Pagenaud.

    This pattern of lead changes during green flag pit cycles continued until Lap 151, when Newgarden slingshot past Pagenaud entering Turn 3 to make the first on track pass for the lead of the race. He held serve until he pitted with 29 laps to go. During this pit cycle, a five-car wreck brought out the fourth caution of the race and set up the run to the finish.

    What else happened

    Colton Herta brought out the first caution of the race on Lap 6 when his car stalled on the access road in Turn 4.

    Kyle Kaiser brought out the second caution on Lap 73 when he got loose, overcorrected and hit the wall in Turn 4.

    Marcus Ericsson brought out the third caution on Lap 138 when he spun on entry and hit the inside pit wall.

    Who had a good day

    Santino Ferrucci earned his career best finish of seventh.

    Who had a bad day

    Scott Dixon, who entered the race second in points, was caught up in the five-car wreck with 22 laps to go and suffered front wing damage.

    Nuts and bolts

    The race lasted two hours, 50 minutes and 39 seconds, at an average speed of 175.794 mph. There were 29 lead changes among 10 different drivers and four cautions for 29 laps.

    Pagenaud leaves with a one point lead over Newgarden.

    IndyCar returns to action on Saturday on the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit, as part of the two-race weekend double-header Detroit Grand Prix.

  • Rossi comes up short in Indy 500 bid

    Rossi comes up short in Indy 500 bid

    INDIANAPOLIS — Alexander Rossi was asked what made the difference in the end that cost him in his duel with Simon Pagenaud in the closing laps of the 103rd Indianapolis 500.

    He said it was the horsepower differential between Chevrolet and Honda and the straight-line speed.

    “Obviously the 22 guys fully deserve it,” Rossi said. “They were on pole. He led probably 70 percent of the laps. Yeah, I mean, he was a deserving winner for sure.”

    The last caution particularly hurt him, as he was going to cycle out to the lead at the conclusion of the green flag pit cycle, having passed Pagenaud for said spot.

    “We were doing a lot better on fuel mileage than (Pagenaud) was, so that was the first kind of nail in the proverbial coffin.”

    On the final restart with 13 laps to go, Pagenaud pounced on him coming to the line and took the lead heading into Turn 1. He was able to match him for a few laps, and even took the lead with three laps to go. But with two to go, Pagenaud overtook him for the final time and won.

    “We didn’t have the speed out front,” he said. “I mean, I was flat for the last 15 laps, and there’s not much more you can do.”

    Bad luck basically sums up the day for Rossi at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition to the untimely caution, he suffered a slow stop because the fuel pump wouldn’t connect to his car. Then came his battle with the lapped car of Oriol Servia, who blocked him for multiple laps.

    “I think it was one of the most disrespectful things I’ve ever seen in a race car, to be honest,” he said. “He’s a lap down and defending, putting me to the wall at 230 miles an hour. It’s unacceptable. It’s unacceptable for him, and it’s unacceptable that INDYCAR allowed it to happen as long as they did.”

    At the end of the day, it was an excellent race to the win that he and Pagenaud put on. Maybe in time, he said he could take solace in that aspect.

    “Ultimately it was a good day for the team,” he said. “You know, I think that we put a huge focus all month as we always do on the race car. The car was by far the best in the field in terms of what we could do and pass at will when I needed to. I didn’t see anyone else doing that. So a huge testament to the whole Andretti Autosport organization for really my fourth year here giving me a car that was capable of winning.

    “So that’s a great thing, and I’m very, very thankful for that.

    “But as I said, leading up to this many times, once you’ve won this thing once, the desire to win just ramps up exponentially every year, so it sucks to come this close and really have nothing that we as a team could have done differently. I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the effort that they always put in, and yeah, when we get No. 2, it’s going to be probably a huge explosion of emotions because we all want it really bad.”

    He leaves Indianapolis third in points, trailing new points leader Pagenaud by 23.

  • Windscreen coming to IndyCar in 2020

    Windscreen coming to IndyCar in 2020

    INDIANAPOLIS — Ever since Justin Wilson’s death at Pocono Raceway in 2015, windscreens on race cars in the NTT IndyCar Series was an inevitability. Five years later, that inevitability becomes a reality.

    In the midst of Carb Day festivities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar announced that Red Bull Advanced Technologies will develop a windscreen, dubbed the Aeroscreen (though IndyCar President Jay Frye implied during the announcement that a different name is coming) as a means to enhance driver cockpit protection. The Aeroscreen makes its debut in 2020.

    “…we’ll have a prototype in probably 30 days, and we’ll have real pieces in another 60 days,” Frye said. “Get them on cars this summer to test, and then at some point we’re going into the off-season around November so we’ll have one for each entry.”

    According to the press release announcement, it will be “a polycarbonate laminated screen that includes an anti-reflective coating on the interior of the screen, an anti-fogging device through an integral heating element and possibly tear-offs…” It’ll be supported by a titanium framework, similar to the Halo design currently used in Formula 1.

    Scott Dixon says the piece that comes down in front of the driver’s view is “something you won’t notice too much.”

    “It’s very similar to the addition that we have right now as far as line of sight for the driver,” he said. “But I think it — until we get it into running conditions through the summer months, we’ll obviously pick up some differences. But I think this adds more to it. It’s structurally more sound. It is higher, creates obviously more room for error, as well. So I think it’s just a far better piece that has been improved from the original concept.

    The “addition” that Dixon’s referring to is the Advanced Frontal Protection (AFP), the three-inch trapezoid placed just in front of the driver that’s designed to deflect debris, such as tires, away from a drivers head.

    What happens to the AFP in 2020?

    “The AFP device comes off, and the frame for this screen just bolts on to it, so it’s in the same spot,” Frye said. “So that’s already been done. So the cars are already equipped to take on this frame by taking off the AFP device.”

    The Aeroscreen — in development since 2016, as Red Bull was working with the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) — is similar in design to those tested in 2016 at ISM (Phoenix) Raceway. The proposed design, however, is taller in the rear to provide greater protection to the drivers head.

    “So part of our work has been to study previous crashes in the IndyCar Series and to detect where the helmet position was during those crashes,” said Ed Collings, Red Bull Advanced Technologies head of composites and structures. “One of the important parts of our design is that we don’t put a very rigid structure in a position where the helmet could make contact in a high-G instant. So in order to deliver that, we’ve created an exclusion zone where this device, this protection system does not come into — doesn’t enter that zone so it wouldn’t impede the driver’s head. So it’s important that we haven’t introduced any compromises by adding this assembly on to the car.”

    Unlike the windscreen tested in 2016, this design might produce a little drag on the cars. While IndyCar will test to see if that difference can be mitigated, the safety value outweighs the drag factor.

    While it deviates a ways away from the “traditional open cockpit look” that’s a hallmark of open-wheel racing, aesthetics were taken into consideration and IndyCar thought Red Bull’s design “looked very cool.”

    “Remember when we did this car a couple years ago, we would put out sketches of the car to the fans to see what their opinion was, and then we’d put out a rendering of the car, so this car, remember we kind of reverse-engineered it where we did esthetics first and the performance was second,” Frye said. “So obviously we put all that effort into the aero kit, so we wanted to make sure the screen matched that, and they’ve done a phenomenal job. It looks, I think you see, it has a fighter jet kind of look to it, so we’re excited about that.”

    The designing of a windscreen came as a result of Wilson’s death at Pocono in 2015, when he was struck in the head by a nose cone that came off Sage Karam’s wrecked car.